Number of deaths from a heart attack halve in ten years

The reduction has been attributed, in part, to fewer people smoking and better management of risk factors such as high blood pressure and cholesterol.

Improvements in hospital care have also contributed to a rise in the numbers surviving, researchers told the British Medical Journal.

They found the death rate fell by 50 per cent among men and 53 per cent in women when they analysed 840,000 cardiac cases in England between 2002 and 2010.

Overall, 61 per cent of the people who had a heart attack were men, 36 per cent of heart attacks resulted in death and 73 per cent hit those aged 65 and above.

While Prof Peter Weissberg of the British Heart Foundation said the results of the charityâs study were âimpressiveâ he was concerned âfar too many heartÂ attack victims still die from a cardiac arrest before medical help arrivesâ.

He said many deaths could be prevented if bystanders performed âhands-onlyâÂ resuscitation if they saw somebody suffering a cardiac arrest â part of a new BHF campaign.